Carrion begins to decay the moment of the animal's death, and it will increasingly attract insects and breed bacteria. Not long after the animal has died, its body will begin to exude a foul odor caused by the presence of bacteria and the emission of cadaverine and putrescine.

Sometimes carrion is used to describe an infected carcass that is diseased and should not be touched. An example of carrion being used to describe dead and rotting bodies in literature may be found in William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar:

The thirty-count laws of Ulla (Talmudist) include the prohibition of humans consuming carrion,[9] this count is in addition to the standard seven law count and has been recently published from the Judeo-Arabic writing of Shmuel ben Hophni Gaon after having been lost for centuries.[10]